


Give Me A Sign

by Jess4400



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: ASL, Basically Connieswap version of Rocknaldo, Deaf, F/M, I researched a lot and I hope this is not horribly inaccurate, Please correct me if I got any Deaf stuff wrong, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 12:32:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11059050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jess4400/pseuds/Jess4400
Summary: *Set in the ConnieSwap Universe but not affiliated with it*Ronaldo tries to teach Connie and Steven this language he calls "Gem Gestures."Connie and Steven try to teach Ronaldo ASL. Many Face-palms ensue.





	Give Me A Sign

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Connie Swap Episode 7: Assistant Connie](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10989528) by [br42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/br42/pseuds/br42), [BurdenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurdenKing/pseuds/BurdenKing), [MjStudioArts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MjStudioArts/pseuds/MjStudioArts). 



> How 'bout that Wanted event? Wow. Crazy!  
> Here's a lighter SU story set in the ConnieSwap Universe. I am not one of the authors. This is simply a fan work because I like their AU. They encouraged me to write this (It's probably really cringy but I had fun making it) so here we are!
> 
> Note: Please correct me on any inaccuracies. I did my research but I know I could still be wrong on some things and it's making me anxious! I swear I don't mean any harm with this fic, so please be nice if a correction needs to be made!  
> Thanks, and enjoy this hot mess.

Connie stared blankly at her book. She had read the same sentence five times, but she wasn't really paying attention to the words. Her mind kept drifting to the day she spent with Peridot yesterday. Usually, when Connie would ask questions, Peridot would dismiss her with a pat on the head and a clipped “Wait until you’re older, dear.” It was unusual for Peridot to disclose all of that information to her about her family. She liked the openness it brought to their relationship, but she was also a little afraid to find out what else they've been keeping from her.

Luckily, a cheery text alert from her phone was enough to distract her from her thoughts. She typed in her passcode with little thought and read the message.

 

StUn: Hey! U wanna go 2 the boardwalk? We can get fry bits. My treat!

 

Connie smiled and typed a reply. She sent it with the “invisible ink” effect because she knew Steven would appreciate the sparkles.

 

CoMa: Sure! Let me get changed and I’ll be up there in a bit. Meet you at the fry shop?

 

StUn: Yea!!  I’ll c u there! txt me when u get there. I’m leaving now.

 

CoMa: [Thumbs-up emoji]

 

Connie got dressed headed off to the boardwalk. If only she knew what shenanigans she was about to get herself into…

 

* * *

 

Connie approached the fry shop and sent Steven a text to let her know she was there. She was so distracted by typing that she didn’t see the large, blond, curly-headed teen flailing around in front of her. She bumped into him and he accidentally bopped her on the nose.

“Ow,” she grumbled, rubbing the sore spot. She looked up to see Ronaldo wincing. 

“Sorry, fellow Beach City citizen. I didn’t mean to hurt you. That’s actually, like, the exact opposite of what I want to do. Here, take a Ronalphlet. It is a translated version of my PSA in Gem Gestures.”

Connie looked down at the pamphlet, confused. On the front was a picture of Peridot yelling in mid-lecture. The paper was titled “Gem Gestures: What They Are And Why We Should Learn” She opened the pamphlet and gasped.

Inside was a blurry picture of her and Steven signing. It looked like it was from when they were at the park the other day, talking about dogs. Steven said Pomeranians were the best and Connie valiantly disagreed. She believed huskies were obviously superior. She thought that they had been alone that day, but she was obviously wrong about that!

“Ronaldo,” she shrieked, “Have you been spying on us? That is so creepy!”

Ronaldo rolled his eyes at her, offended. “Of course! It was only for educational purposes though, I swear. I needed to get information to make this Ronalphlet as accurate as possible.”

“Accurate?” Connie questioned. Still disturbed by the photo, she gave him an incredulous look and crumpled her pamphlet into a ball. 

“Hey! You can’t do that!” Ronaldo cried. Connie gave him a look of ‘Yes, the heck I can’ and snatched the rest of his papers. She briskly walked to the trash can and locked eyes with him when she reached it. All at once, she released the pile into the garbage.

“What the heck did you do that for? Those took me like, an hour to make! Who are you to keep the truth from the people like that?” Ronaldo yelled.

Connie whirled around, nerves piqued. “Who am I? Who are _you_ to take pictures of my friend and me without our permission? Who are you to then use those said pictures in this fact-less gem propaganda?”

Ronaldo looked like he was going to retaliate but he was interrupted by Steven’s arrival.

“Woah,” Steven said, glancing at Connie’s angry face. “What did I miss?”

Connie grabbed the crumpled paper from the ground and shoved it at Steven. She crossed her arms and waited for him to get angry too. Instead, he just laughed.

“Pffft, Ronaldo, what is this?” He said, looking at the front. “Gem Gestures? You mean sign language?”

Ronaldo blushed and snatched the pamphlet back. “No! This is a sophisticated gem language that is way more advanced than that primitive ‘Sign Language’ you’re talking about.” He used air quotes around ‘Sign Language’ and made a disgusted face.

Steven opened the pamphlet and snorted. “Really? Because this is a picture of me. Signing. American Sign Language.” A look of realization crossed his face. “Hah! I was wondering what you were talking those pictures for!”

Connie’s rage turned to Steven. “You knew?!”

“Well, yeah,” he scratched his head nervously. “He wasn’t exactly discreet. You didn’t see him? He was in the tree behind the bench. I didn’t really care, though.” Ronaldo objected to the insult and started bickering with Steven.

While the boys argued, Ronaldo on offense and Steven on defense, Connie slowly ran her hands down her face in frustration. “Deep breath,” she told herself.

“Stop,” she commanded, waving her hands to make sure she got Steven’s attention. The boys ceased their argument and listened intently. 

“Just… Ronaldo, tell me why you made these pamphlets.”

Ronaldo smoothed down his shirt and cleared his throat. “Thank you, it’s about time you let me explain. I just wanted to educate the citizens of Beach City about Gem Gestures so that if the Homeworld Gems ever attack, we’ll be able to communicate with them and talk them down in their language. I added a few pictures demonstrating some of their basic gestures in my pamphlet. If people want to learn more, they can come to my workshop next week at the lighthouse.”

Connie sighed and faced Ronaldo. Her anger began to fade away. “That’s actually pretty sensible thinking, Ronaldo, but you’ve got it all wrong. Steven taught me sign. I didn’t teach him.” 

Ronaldo looked confused. “How did he teach you the Gem Gestures? I thought you were part-gem, not him. How does he know?”

“Because there’s no such thing as Gem Gestures! He’s been teaching me sign because he’s Deaf and we can communicate easier that way. The only reason why you might’ve seen the gems sign is because we’re teaching them too, for stealth missions and stuff where we have to be quiet.”

Ronaldo narrowed his eyes at Steven. “You’re not deaf. Deaf people don’t talk.”

Steven looked at Connie and his expression told her everything he was thinking.

_‘Woo boy, I really have to explain this whole thing, don’t I?’_

She shot him a look back. _‘Yep’_

Steven placed his hands by his lips as though he was praying and thought about what he wanted to say for a moment. He huffed and put his hands down. “Some do, some don’t. It depends on the person and how _they_ want to communicate. I went to lots of speech therapy and worked really hard at it, so I talk. It doesn’t mean I’m not deaf.”

Connie mentally applauded Steven for his patient reply. If it were her explaining, she would’ve been a lot more sarcastic.

Ronaldo tried again. “But… If you can talk to me right now, doesn’t that mean you can hear me? How do you know what I’m saying if you’re deaf?”

Steven pushed his hair away from his ears and showed off his hearing aids. “I have hearing aids, so I can hear a lot of stuff that I can’t hear without them. I can usually understand speech with my hearing aids in, but not high sounds like doorbells and yappy dogs barking. Sometimes, I can hear that you’re talking, but it’s just very muffled and hard to make out. That’s usually if you’re far away or there’s a lot of background noise. When that happens, I can look at your lips and body language to figure out something along the lines of what you just said. Other times, I’m completely lost and I have to ask you to repeat yourself.”

Ronaldo nodded. Connie motioned for the boys to follow her to a nearby table to sit down. She figured Ronaldo had a lot of questions and she didn’t want to stand through all of them.

Once they sat down, Ronaldo eyed Steven suspiciously. “I’m still confused. How do I know you’re not just faking it? And how can you call yourself Deaf if you can hear me with with hearing aids?”

Steven cocked his head at Ronaldo and scratched his head. He let his hand fall into a ‘what?’ position and then rested his hand on his chin, at a loss for words.

“First of all, why would I fake being Deaf? That’s really ignorant of you to ask. You know better than that. Second, If a person is paralyzed, but they use a wheelchair to get around, are they still paralyzed?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“So,” Steven said, taking out his hearing aids and handing them to Ronaldo, “I gave you my hearing aids, but I’m still Deaf. See how that works? They're not a cure. I don’t want a cure. They’re only a tool, just like a wheelchair.”

Ronaldo “ohhh’ed” in understanding. “I see now.”

Steven grinned at Ronaldo. “What?” He said and signed.

“I said I see now—wait a minute.” He handed Steven his hearing aids back. “Here.”

“Thank you much,”

Connie smiled briefly, glad that this whole Deaf Q&A session was over. Ronaldo could be very socially dense sometimes. Connie was worried that he’d ask something way out of line and offend Steven. On the other hand though, she was glad that he did ask the questions he did. Some of them were questions she’d been meaning to ask herself, but had been too scared to in fear of pushing her only friend away. She should’ve known he’d be open to talking about this.

Steven put his hearing aids back in and grabbed the pamphlet. 

“So what signs did you put in here?” Steven asked. He looked at the diagrams. 

“This one is wrong.” He pointed to the first diagram. “MEET YOU” is right, but “NICE” is goes like this.” He demonstrated by putting his left palm out flat and swiping his right palm over it perpendicularly. He watched Ronaldo’s attempt and laughed. 

“Yeah, like you’re making it rain!” Steven over-dramatically performed the sign many more times.

Connie giggled and practiced the sign as well. It was one of the first signs Steven had taught her, so she already knew it by heart. She still wanted to be supportive though. She was happy that Steven was getting to teach someone else about his language. There were no other Deaf or Hard Of Hearing people in Beach City, so the only time Steven could sign was with his parents and sometimes her (if he went really slow and finger spelled a lot). She still had a lot to learn, so maybe learning it with Ronaldo would be fun. She watched and practiced as Steven taught Ronaldo a few more basic signs. Ronaldo got really into it and kept asking for more signs, so Steven delivered. Peedee brought out some fry bits for them, free of charge (for keeping Ronaldo out of his hair for a while, Connie presumed) and joined in on their lesson. 

Around an hour later, the sun set and it was hard for the teens to see each other’s hands. They promised to learn again sometime and they all parted their separate ways except for Connie and Steven. Steven insisted on walking Connie home. They walked for a while in silence, admiring the ocean as they passed by.

“Um, Connie?” Steven asked tentatively.

“Hm?”

“Connie?”

“Yes?” she responded, louder this time. Steven stared at the ground, seemingly embarrassed for what he was about to say.

“Sorry I got carried away. I know I went to the fry shop today to spend time with you, but then Ronaldo seemed so _genuinely_ interested in learning sign and no one, well besides you I guess, has ever really _wanted_ to learn, so I guess I was just really excited. Then Peedee joined in, and we ate the bits, and I was having such a great time but I feel like I kind of ditched you. If you want, I can take you somewhere else tomorrow to make up for it. I shouldn’t have—”

“Steven!” She said while signing “STOP.”

 “It’s okay! I had fun too. You didn’t ditch me, I was practicing with you guys. I know you were excited. I’m happy you’re having fun with this.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Steven ducked his head in his jacket and blushed. Connie took this as an opportunity to tease him. 

“You know, you looked really cute when you were explaining to them.”

Steven got even redder. She couldn’t believe she said that, but she was glad she did. Seeing Steven flustered was too funny. The pair reached the door and before Connie could knock, Lapis opened the door. She took one look at Steven and grinned like a Cheshire cat.

“Oh my stars! Did you two finally kiss? Tell me all—” 

Steven immediately took out his hearing aids and held them tightly in his hands before she could continue.

“LA, LA, LA! I’M NOT LISTENING! GOODBYE CONNIE, GOODBYE LAPIS!”

He ran down the stairs, leaving an embarrassed Connie and cackling Lapis behind him.


End file.
